Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis granted three more months to authorities to finalise the Development Plan (DP) 2014-2034 for Mumbai. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation will now have time up to May 31, 2016 for publishing the draft Development Plan, from its earlier deadline of February 22, 2016. The draft DP was ideally supposed to have been unveiled in 2014.

Meanwhile, authorities have plans to incorporate initiatives to incentivise compact homes. Mumbai is the country’s most expensive real estate market.

Measures being considered include doing away with high premium for such homes, or granting more floor space for building projects involving construction of compact 1 BHK homes. “Tools to make houses more affordable in Mumbai are being explored,” said Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta, refusing to elaborate further.

The civic body had originally gone public with a draft DP last February. The Fadnavis government was forced to withdraw the draft within two months following a public backlash over incongruities and errors. There was also an outcry over a proposal to push further vertical development by offering higher floor space index (FSI), especially around transport corridors.

While Fadnavis set an initial deadline of August 2015 to finish the review of and corrections to the draft DP, this was later extended till February 22, 2016. Another three months have now been granted. Sources confirmed that the proposal to offer higher floor space incentives for development of properties around transport corridors has been discarded.